About

£12,876

pledged of £10,000 goal

189

backers

Final stretch goal: £14,000

Wow, we absolutely can't believe the amazing support we have received on this project. It's great to see that people are as passionate about the project as we are. Some of your private messages have been inspiring.

Thank you everyone, we wouldn't be here without you.

With 10 hours to go we have one last stretch goal we want to try and hit. It focuses on the short film and feature script package. Once we get on the festival circuit we want to be able to have a strong 'Roger' feature script to hand and this goal will help us dramatically in it's development.

Stretch goal: £12,500 - REACHED - T-shirt reward unlocked

We’ve reached our funding goal! All of the love and support we have received has been amazing and we appreciate every single pound that you great people have pledged.

With Kickstarter, if you don’t make your goal, you don’t receive any of the money, so £10,000 was the absolute minimum we needed to finish the film and get it into festivals. However, with more money we can do so much more. We have set a stretch goal of £12,500.

If we reach the new target, everyone who has pledged £40 and over will receive an official Roger T-shirt.

Below is a summary of where the extra money will go.

Roger is a comedy short film about a guy who arrives home after six months in Mongolia to discover his best friend has replaced him with a ventriloquist's dummy.

The style of humour is dry and self-deprecating (typically British, you could say), and despite the surreal premise, themes of friendship and jealousy are explored which we hope viewers will find relatable. After all, who hasn't come home from aboard to discover their best friend has replaced them with a dummy?

Starring John Bradley (Sam Tarly in Game of Thrones) and award-winning British comedian Seann Walsh.

Loading the car for action!

The film started off as an idea that we had last year. We began creating these two characters: Stephen and Roy. Stephen is a magician and Roy is a ventriloquist act. We soon realised that the two of them made a pretty hilarious comedy duo so we then began writing a feature film about one of their adventures. This was where the idea for the short film was born. We thought that making a smaller version of the feature film that was manageable on a low budget would be a sure-fire way to show people that these characters were worth paying attention to and were extremely entertaining.

However, we didn't want to simply grab a scene from the film. We wanted the short to work on its own, have its own story and, on top of that, be very funny. We spent the last few months of 2015 refining the short script, making it the best that it could possibly be.

When we felt confident that the script was in good shape, we made a hit list of the actors we thought would be able to nail Stephen and Roy. Seann and John were top of our wish list. We laughed it off as being ridiculous and headed for the pub. I mean, Seann Walsh and John Bradley - As if we could get those guys?

After 6 pints, 4 vodkas, a Jaeger bomber and a new found confidence, we returned home and sent them the script. Luckily, for us, they both loved it and jumped on board. As soon as that happened, we cashed in our life savings and made the shoot happen.

The short film was shot in early 2016 and we are now looking for funding to complete the film and enable us to get it onto the world festival circuit. We were really pleased with how the shoot went but now we need your help to make it shine to turn it into a completed short film in order to show it to audiences around the world.

John Bradley between takes

Please help us complete the film by purchasing one of our fabulous rewards. If you are unable to pledge, please share our project with your friends and spread the word of Roger around the internet.

Our main Kickstarter goal focuses on post production. As many people know, shooting the film is only a small part of the battle. We now have to work on the edit, the audio mix, VFXs, the colour grade, music, the list goes on. Check out the pie chart below for a full break down on where your pledges will be placed.

We have recruited some of the finest people in the industry to help us finish Roger to an extremely high standard, including Rick Smith (This is England, Tyrannosaur) and Jason Mofat (The Curse - BAFTA nominated, Hinterland - Raindance nominated).

Our full team is listed down the page.

We also want to place the film on the world-wide festival circuit. We have teamed up with 'Festival Formula' who will be creating a bespoke festival strategy for the film that will place it in the best possible festivals for the most effective results and coverage.

Writer/Director Brendan Cleaves is an award-winning British writer and director. In addition to being UK Music Video Awards nominated, his commercial projects have won various advertising awards. His latest screenplay made the quarter final of the international Bluecat Screenplay competition as well as being officially selected for many film festivals around the world. www.brendancleaves.com

Still taken from Death Koolaid 'The Horrors'

Writer - Stuart ForemanStuart is an award-winning screenwriter and script consultant. He has read for production companies in the US, UK and Australia. His second feature script, which he co-wrote with Brendan Cleaves, won Best UK Screenplay at the London Independent Film Festival 2016. stuforeman.com

Producer - Alasdair MitchelAlasdair is an experienced producer with dozens of credits for short films, music videos and commercials under his belt. Currently, he’s in production for a short film, shot in Iceland and to be featured on Channel 4, as well as in development for longer-form shorts and feature screenplays.

Still taken from EofE 'Wake Up' produced by Alasdair

DP - Joe Ransom started his career as an actor working on British TV and independent features. His love for film saw a shift in focus and his direction changed to working behind the camera.

Over the past five years, Joe has worked on high-end corporates to TV commercials for clients including Coca-Cola, Samsung, Budweiser, Heineken, Next and many more.

Editor - Jim PageJim has been an editor for 11 years cutting feature films, broadcast documentaries, comedy sketches and short films. He's cut for the BBC, Channel 4, Disney, Sony and hundreds of others.

His first feature, “Arthur and Merlin”, was in the top 5 on iTunes when released and, at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, a short he co-edited was nominated for the Short film Palme D’Or. http://jimpage.co.uk

Jim in his edit suite

Sound Designer - Rick SmithRick has worked on Award-winning projects including Paddy Considine’s feature film Tyrannosaur, Shane Meadows’ This is England 86 and This is England 88 for Channel 4, and more recently the critically acclaimed I Believe In Miracles by Jonny Owen. http://www.ricksmithaudio.co.uk

Award winning 'This Is England'

Colourist - Jason MofatJason has worked on many award wining films such as 'The Curse', 'Balcony' and 'Abe' amongst many others.http://www.jasonrmoffat.com

Festival FormulaFounded by Katie McCullough, Festival Formula is the culmination of over ten years' experience strategising film festival submissions, successful crowdfunding and social media campaigns for multiple clients. http://festivalformula.com

The Film 'Nina Forever' was one of Festival Formula's Kickstarter clients

Risks and challenges

As the film has been shot already, there is very minimal risk to anyone getting involved in the project.

The main challenge for us is to keep up the momentum and make the film into something amazing for us all to share and enjoy.

We hope 'Roger' will be selected by many worldwide film festivals but obviously we can't guarantee this. However, with a stellar cast, a praised script and a highly skilled post-production team we are giving ourselves the best possible chance of success.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £1,500 or more
About $2,192

BE THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Your name under 'Executive Producer' in the credits, listed on IMDB, DVD/Blu-ray sleeves and the film's website. Plus, watch early edits of Roger before anyone else and get front row seats to London premiere (plus 5 additional tickets) and have a mingle with team beforehand.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £2,000 or more
About $2,922

SPONSOR THE FILM

Your company is the official sponsor of 'Roger' with your logo in the credits under 'official sponsor', printed on the DVD/Blu-ray covers and placed on the film's website. Plus front row seats to the London premiere with 3 additional tickets.